The industrial applications for winding a metal band or hose clamp around a workpiece such as a hose to secure the hose to a pipe or fitting are well known in the art. One mechanical system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,866 (1999) to Klimach. A metal band is wound around a workpiece, and then the two ends of the band are fed into two receiving ports on a manually operated strap clamping tool. The clamp is tightened under the effect of a double pulley.
The closest known prior art is made by Band-It-Idex, Inc., a Unit of IDEX Corp., Denver, Colo., model Ultra-Lok®, see FIGS. 1 and 2 herein. Models include an AC or a battery powered unit. The unit only handles a one size ¾″ specialty clamp made by Band-It™. The clamps can be preformed with the special buckle integral, or free-end with the special buckle separate from the band. Either hose or pole applications can be handled.
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 an AC unit 1 has a housing 2 which includes a commercial drill motor with integral gear box. The gear box powers a pulling assembly 3. The pulling assembly 3 has a pulling element 4. The gear box powers a screw 6 which pulls the pulling element 4 rearward during the clamp tightening cycle.
In operation a tail of the band to be applied is inserted into the band entry port 7 and gripped by the gripper 5 inside the pulling element 4. Next the gear box is powered to pull the pulling element 4 rearward via the screw 6. Next the cutoff arm 8 is manually pulled forward to form a locking dimple on the tail and then to cut the tail.
FIG. 2 shows a battery powered unit 20 which functions identically to unit 1.
Problems with the Band-It™ units include the limitation of use with Band-It's expensive custom clamps, only available in a ¾″ width.
Another problem with the Band-It™ units is the requirement to manually pull the cutoff arm 8 while the operator still needs to control the unit as well as the workpiece. This operation leads to two hands controlling three objects.
Another problem with the Band-It™ units is the inability to bench mount the units for production runs.
These problems are solved by the present invention which provides a bench mount, and can be made portable by detaching the tool from the bench mount, AC or DC system. Either system can handle generic buckles, or pre-formed clamp (band and buckle) or smooth I.D. clamp (eliminates leak path) or center punch clamp or open end clamps. The tool will handle the full range of clamp widths from ¼″ to ¾″. All of the present invention systems have a powered cutoff assembly.